Mlungisi Gegana is a bass player, a band leader, music composer, music arranger, music producer, session musician and a mentor. He is widely versed in South African music idiom and has collaborated with some of the finest jazz musicians in South Africa and abroad. Gegana's combos have graced stages of South Africa's major jazz festivals and premier live music venues.
I have performed with South African and international musicians on local and global stages including Sweden, France, Norway, Algeria, Namibia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe. The most memorable of all my performances was with ZimNgqawana at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Netherland and a saxophonist from an America leading jazz fusion band called Yellow Jackets by the name of Bob Mintzer at Sun City Super Bowl as a backing musician.
M.G has been featured on gospel, pop, African traditional music, contemporary and mainstream jazz albums as a session bass player. He often experiment with cross culture, cross-genre and cross generational music from the young and old, and he's rooted in African jazz tradition.
He is originally from the historical jazz hub of Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, which has produced some of the world renown names in music such as Victor MadodaNdlazilwana, MongeziFeza, Margaret (Singana) Mcingana, StompieMavi, Pat Matshikiza, MadodaBobelo, Desmond and MadodaMalothana, NonzwakaziNguna, Nomuntu Kapa and many more.
"One Step Forward" — aptly titled for this hard working musician who has spent years in pursuing of a record deal. Starting in 1972 at the age of I I years old, he picked up a three string guitar made from a 5 litre oil can in his home town Queenstown in the Eastern Cape.
In 1986 he realized his passion for jazz was starting to form in his heart, and parked up his bag and headed for Cape Town. It was here where he began to perform with his own music and led his own band.
Eventually Mlungisi came to Johannesburg, It didn 't take him long at all. Playing at Kippie's Jazz Club on, he was spotted by a record company executive who spend the night phoning his colleagues, and the rest is history. Mlungisi went to the studio with the best in the recording industry - Louis Mhlanga, Godfrey Mgcina, Andile Yenana, Vusi Khumalo Jasper Cook, Kesivan Naidoo.